Independent learning

Students will regularly be asked to complete out-of-class tasks for all their subjects. These may be given to consolidate or extend work that has taken place in class or to prepare them for work that is to come.

Teachers will give students full details of tasks or will set the task on Magpie, our VLE, and will make their expectations clear. Work is often due in for the next lesson. Students should use the diary pages to make clear notes. If they are uncertain what to do, they should find their teacher as soon as they can to ask for more guidance.

In years 7 & 8, students may be given project-based work to complete over several weeks. Sometimes departments work together to set a project which combines different subjects.

In years 10 & 11, out-of-class work is exam-focused, and may be used for coursework or to complete exam-style questions.

In year 9, students are moving towards the exam-focused approach, but not yet with the same intensity.

Personalised learning

Sometimes, students in the same class will be asked to complete different tasks. Sometimes, some students will be asked to do more work than others or to complete tasks in different ways. This is because they all have different abilities and need to be challenged in different ways. An ideal task is one that really makes students think, one that they want to do to the best of their ability, and one that they learn from. An ideal task is not one that can be done in 5 minutes or one that students feel completely unprepared for. Parents and students need to let teachers know if tasks are not ideal!

E-learning

An increasing number of ‘virtual’ tasks are set. Teachers and students can access the school’s virtual learning environment, Magpie, in school and at home. All subjects have ‘classrooms’ for all years. In addition, the school makes full benefit of the SAM Learning website to support learning.

Assessment of independent learning

If students work hard out of lessons, they can expect their teachers to work hard to acknowledge this. Students will be given feedback in a number of ways:

• Books / folders will be marked regularly with written comments
• They will assess and mark work in class (sometimes on their own, sometimes in pairs or groups)
• Work will be automatically assessed online
• Teachers will send an email or voicemail
• Tests and exams will be marked and discussed.